We have all heard the old saying that “Seeing is believing.” But, is this always true at all times and in every way? Not necessarily, as our eyes can often mislead and deceive us. No matter if one has 20-20 vision, the reality of optical illusion and pranks of refraction can play curious and dramatic tricks on us. For example, if one looks down the railroad track, the tracks appear to come together in the distance. We know that this is not actually true, even though it appears that way to our eyes. Also, one can take a straight stick, place it into the water straight  down, and then behold the stick as it appears to bend at an angle. Of course, it has not bent, but only appears to have done so. The eyes are playing tricks on us, and we have to understand that what is happening is merely an optical illusion. Things are not always what they appear to be.  One cannot always believe their eyes! Again, travelers in the desert often have written about seeing water where there is only dry, hot sand. This “mirage” has led many inexperienced people to their destruction in years past.   

Now, let us look at a man and a woman who lived about 4,000 years ago. First, we see Abram, a man of about 100 years of age. Next, we see his wife, Sarai, who is about 90 years old.  We are also told that Abram is impotent and that Sarai is barren (Rom. 4:19; Gen. 17:17). Would this elderly couple be able to father and mother a child? No, that would be physically impossible to see such a thing happening with this elderly man and woman. But, there was something more  and someone else involved in this picture. First, there is the promise of God (Rom. 4:20-21), and then there is the faith of Abram that enters into the picture. This dramatically alters the scene.  The unseen (except by faith) hand of God makes the difference and completely changes the  course of human history. Abraham and Sarah (their names being changed) have a son (Isaac) in due time, in spite of the physical impossibility of such a thing happening. Human reasoning rejects such a phenomenon; but, God said that he would supernaturally empower this elderly couple to have a son – and they did.     

Men may, by human wisdom and so called “scientific deduction,” come to certain conclusions that contradict the Word of God. But, here, too, things are not always what they appear or seem. Truth is not always what biased men think, reason, or declare it to be. Truth is  not necessarily what one speculates or pontificates concerning what he thinks that he sees in the bottom of a test tube, or anywhere else in a laboratory. Frankly, it is not always what seems, or appears, to be logical and reasonable that is true; but what God says about the matter, that is what makes it so. Remember, we “walk by faith, and not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7). Yet, faith is not a blind leap into the dark unknown not knowing just where we will land – or even if we will land at all. Rather, it is humbly taking the Word of God deeply into our hearts, and obediently living our lives in joyful anticipation of the promises of God (Rom. 10:17).    

Certainly we treasure our eyes and value beyond words our ability to see the beauty of God’s creation. But the natural eye, alone and unaided, will bring us up short when it comes to eternal considerations beyond this physical universe. The eye of faith simply must be engaged if we want to be ready to face life, and then death, in a state of spiritual readiness. We must look carefully and be able to see beyond the things of this material world in  order to be prepared for the eternal realm that is to come. Yes, “Seeing is believing” in many areas pertaining to this physical life. But the point is that we can be fooled, and even tragically misled and deceived at times, by relying solely upon our physical sight.

However, we can confidently say, with the utmost assurance, that “Seeing is believing,”  if we can see it, clearly and accurately, in the Word of God!